Lee’s Summit Alumni Interns For Senator Claire McCaskill

Noland Perrilloux, who graduated from Lee’s Summit High School with the IB Diploma in 2011, is currently spending his summer working on Capitol Hill.

Attending the University of Missouri Kansas City for a double major in Political Science and Economics,

Perrilloux applied for the Truman Bootstrap Scholarship.

“It allows those who would otherwise be unable to travel to Washington DC to complete an internship,” Perrilloux said.

Perrilloux submitted his application before the end of the fall semester. In February, he heard back. As a chosen applicant, he had to attend several meetings throughout the spring semester.

“The program covers my flight out here to Washington DC and my flight back, as well as $2,000 in living expenses, which they are providing since the internship is unpaid,” Perrilloux said.

The internship began on June 2 and ends July 31.

“I was originally placed in Representative Sam Graves offices. After I had another follow up interview, we decided that, for ideological reasons, that maybe it would be a better fit if I could be placed in a different office,” Perrilloux said.

Perrilloux was then placed in the offices of Senator Claire McCaskill.

Perrilloux began his internship by answering phone calls and sorting through constituent mail, processing them so that the Legislative Correspondents (LC’s) could respond. Another large part of his duties included giving tours of the Capitol building.

“More recently, after proving that I could handle smaller tasks like answering the phone and sorting through mail, I’ve been able to work with some of the LC’s,” Perrilloux said. “That could be anything from attending committee hearings and briefings and taking notes for them to, right now, I’m just doing research for some of the defense people.”

Perrilloux was surprised by how much the staff worked to make sure Senator McCaskill is able to complete all of her duties.

“Most of the times that I am there, she’s out in meetings or on the senate floor voting for different things, so I haven’t really had the chance to engage with her too much,” Perrilloux said. “She has, every Thursday, Coffee With Claire where she comes in at 9 a.m. and spends an hour with her constituents, answering their questions and hearing their concerns.”

When Perrilloux returns, he has a year and a half left at UMKC. From there he plans to attend law school or gain more experience on Capitol Hill.

“I’m going to be looking for internships either in possibly a regional office with Senator McCaskill, or trying to reach out to Representative Cleaver, his regional office and see if I can continue working in some capacity to that,” Perrilloux said. “Or, possibly looking into if I can work or shadow a lawyer, to see if that is something that I do in fact want to do.”

In addition, Perrilloux hopes to save enough money to return to DC next summer and resume his internship in McCaskill’s offices.